GRRRRR

Funny what pitching in Comerica Park can do for a pitcher’s disposition. Randy Johnson had some of the old juice in him yesterday–he brushed back at least two Tiger hitters, as the Yanks won the first of a four game series, 4-0. It was the third straight win for New York (who beat the Royals 15-4 on Saturday, and 6-5 on Sunday). Fly balls that have been going over the wall recently against Johnson found their way into the gloves of his outfielders. According to Tyler Kepner:

“It’s one game,” Johnson said. “My career wasn’t over after a few bad ones. It doesn’t mean anything because I threw a good one. It just means I’m back on track to where I should be. That’s all.”

…Detroit stacked nine right-handed hitters against Johnson, who induced more groundouts to third base (six) than strikeouts (four). The Tigers’ Brandon Inge noticed that Johnson was throwing more off-speed pitches than normal.

“That’s something I haven’t seen from him in a long time,” Inge said. “To me, that shows he’s pitching. He’s not trying to blow it past you anymore. But he still has it when he wants to reach back.”

It’s a start. It will be interesting to see how Johnson fares against the Orioles at Camden Yards this weekend.